Prof Siobhan O’Neill: We can’t risk changing everything in education except what matters most

Share current article via FacebookShare current article via PinterestShare current article via TwitterShare current article via LinkedInlead-art-block.fullscreen-enterExpandChildren cannot learn effectively when they are unhappy, anxious, disengaged, or struggling with their mental health By Prof Siobhan O’NeillOctober 14, 2026 at 6:00am BSTNORTHERN Ireland’s education system is undergoing unprecedented reform, reshaping the curriculum, qualifications, attendance, inclusion, teacher professional learning, governance, youth work, funding and wider structures.

Reform is necessary: schools face growing mental health difficulties among pupils and staff, persistent inequalities, increasing complexity of need, workload pressures and financial constraints.

The question is not whether reform is required, but what it should ultimately achieve for children and young people.

TransformED offers an opportunity to improve educational outcomes while creating environments where children feel safe, included, supported and able to thrive.

Yet limited attention appears to have been given to how these environments are created.

TransformED appears to represent a significant departure from the emphasis in two landmark independent expert reviews, A Fair Start and the Independent Review of Education, both of which highlighted early years, emotional health and wellbeing, support for disadvantaged pupils and strong leadership as important to tackling educational underachievement.

The current emphasis is instead on curriculum, assessment, qualifications, school improvement, educational disadvantage and high quality teacher professional development, with a vision for “educational excellence”.

The ambition to address educational inequality and improve the quality of education is welcome.

However, a genuinely transformative approach requires a clear, child-centred theory of change.

We need clarity on how changes to curriculum, qualifications, attendance, inclusion, teacher development and youth work will collectively improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people.

Across the multiple consultations, the same developmental conditions repeatedly emerge as fundamental to educational success: belonging, supportive relationships, participation, inclusion, emotional safety, agency, identity and hope.

These are not peripheral, they are conditions that enable children to engage, learn, develop and thrive.

A coherent reform programme should start with the outcomes we want for children and then demonstrate how each proposed change contributes to them.

Any attempt to tackle educational inequality must also confront the issue of academic selection, which creates enormous pressure for pupils and parents and reinforces social disadvantage.

There is also a need for careful consideration of what a knowledge-rich curriculum means in practice.

A test-driven system can also reproduce existing inequalities, benefiting children who already have resources and support, while leaving others further behind.

Children need a strong foundation of knowledge, but education must be about more than what children can remember and regurgitate.

An approach that places too much emphasis on examination performance risks overlooking the different ways in which children learn and demonstrate their strengths and may create additional pressures for children who experience anxiety or who are neurodivergent.

The wellbeing of teachers and other staff must also be considered.

Schools cannot provide the supportive, relational environments that children need if the adults working within them are struggling with unmanageable workloads exacerbated by the reforms, and inadequate resources.

Staff wellbeing is therefore not separate from children’s wellbeing; it is part of the infrastructure that makes good education possible.

The school environment itself is a powerful influence on children’s wellbeing and can provide a buffer against the effects of social disadvantage.

Children cannot learn effectively when they are unhappy, anxious, disengaged, or struggling with their mental health. Educational attainment and wellbeing are fundamentally connected.

The question should not be whether we prioritise learning or wellbeing, but how we design an education system in which the two reinforce each other.

The proposed “wellbeing” subject, Personal Social Civic and Careers (PSCC) curriculum, provides a useful test of whether this principle will be reflected in practice.

At present, describing PSCC as an “applied subject” creates uncertainty about whether it will operate as a discrete subject.

If provision is dispersed across subjects without clear progression, minimum standards and accountability, there is a risk that it becomes a tick-box exercise, with young people receiving very different provision depending on which school they attend.

PSCC also falls short in relation to education about forming and maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships, despite this being a key feature of Northern Ireland’s Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Framework.

If we want children and young people to develop the knowledge, confidence and skills to navigate relationships safely and respectfully, this needs to be reflected explicitly in the curriculum and capabilities.

Northern Ireland has a particular responsibility to get this right. Our children are growing up with the legacy of conflict alongside poverty, deprivation and persistent inequality. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform education.

But genuine transformation should ultimately be judged not only by whether we have changed the curriculum, qualifications or structures of the system, but by whether those changes make a meaningful difference to children and young people’s lives.

The measure of success should be whether children are better able to learn, participate, belong and flourish.

Mental health and wellbeing should not be another strand of education reform. They should be part of the test of whether the whole reform programme is working.